Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo returned to form big time this past season after struggling through a down 2014-15 campaign with the Dallas Mavericks.
The four-time All-Star recorded an average of 11.9 points and a league-best 11.7 assists while playing under a prove-it deal for the Kings.
None of this means that Sacramento is prepared to exhaust a huge bounty to retain the enigmatic point guard.
Fresh off another disappointing campaign that saw Sacramento miss the playoffs for a 10th consecutive season, the team fired head coach George Karl, replacing him with former Memphis Grizzlies head man Dave Joerger.
Maybe it’s due to Joerger’s slow-it-down offensive philosophy or the presence of other point guards on the Kings’ roster, but the team isn’t looking to get into a bidding war for Rondo’s services once free agency starts this summer.
“The latest scuttlebutt is that the Kings are prepared to cut bait with Rajon Rondo if the bidding for him gets beyond a certain threshold that is lower than we might imagine,” ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported.
This shouldn’t be considered too much of a surprise.
Sacramento has a solid starter-caliber point guard in Darren Collison under contract. The former first-round pick averaged 14.0 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 48 percent from the field this past season.
In addition to this, Seth Curry is set to become a restricted free agent. After finding himself playing a larger role as the 2015-16 season progressed, the lesser-known Curry brother averaged 15.2 points while shooting 48 percent from three-point range in the final 11 games.
The expectation here is that Rondo will receive a ton of interest on the open market. That’s only magnified by what’s going to be an increased salary cap around the Association. If this is the case, we can fully expect him to be one and done in California’s capital city.